The Major Thrust Areas

Vivekananda University chose the following major 'thrust areas', many of which are, in a sense, 'gap areas' in that these have received scarcely any attention in the other conventional universities in India:

Disability Management and Special Education

Integrated Rural and Tribal Development

Indian Spiritual and Cultural Heritage including Value Education

Disaster Management including Relief and Rehabilitation

Fundamental Science Education and Research

Notably, Ramakrishna Mission has been working for decades on end in most of the above areas and therefore has the necessary expertise, both theoretical and practical, to run courses in these specialized areas that are designed on the one hand to directly address the needs of the marginalized, downtrodden and the underprivileged sections of the society and the rural masses of India, and on the other hand, to expose and sensitize the youth to the glorious heritage of our country and train them at the same time in scientific temper and ways of thought. With pride in India's rich past heritage and trained at the same time in modern scientific thought, our youth should begin to investigate why our country as a whole is unable to attain to and retain the zenith of excellence in the arts and sciences and various other fields of knowledge that it had reached in the past, and how it can regain its past glory. Our youth should be fired with the zeal for India's rejuvenation in all spheres of human excellence. This should be a profound concern that should grip them. Education should kindle in their souls that great sympathy for their poor, underprivileged brethren. Swamiji called every educated person a 'traitor', who, having been educated at the expense of the poor masses, does not pay the lead heed to them. It is with a view to inculcating in your educated youth the feeling of indebtedness for the masses and the poor that the University bearing Swamiji's hallowed name has chosen the areas mentioned above as its 'thrust areas'. The branch-centres of Ramakrishna Mission that have been working for several decades in some of these thrust areas have become Specialized Faculty Centres located in different parts of India, and approved as 'off-campus' centres of the University.